# 102



5 x 7 watercolor & ink on paper available for $25.00 (includes shipping in the continental US) 

Please let me know if you would like to add this painting to your fine art collection and I can send you a secure Paypal invoice via email.

 My e-address is mdm123@ymail.com (not gmail) 

 * I try my best to have the photos match the original artworks as exactly as possible, but colors may vary from monitor to monitor. 

 ** All images on this website are © by Michelle McSpadden, and may not be copied or used in any way without expressed written permission

#101



5 x 7 watercolor available for $25.00 includes shipping in continental US.  


Please let me know if you would like to add this painting to your fine art collection and I can send you a secure Paypal invoice via email.

My e-address is mdm123@ymail.com (not gmail)

* I try my best to have the photos match the original artworks as exactly as possible, but colors may vary from monitor to monitor.

 ** All images on this website are © by Michelle McSpadden, and may not be copied or used in any way without expressed written permission

BOGO Sale


HAPPY 4th of July BOGO Sale!!

Details: Starts on July 4th - July 6th 

Buy one heartwork for $25 and get another one FREE

Heartworks can be found by clicking: HERE



Shipping is $3.00 extra anywhere in the continental US.  

Choose the hearts you want by number and send me an email:  

 mdm123@ymail.com 


I will confirm the availability of the hearts and send you a paypal invoice so that all of your payment info is secure.  Once your payment comes through, your paintings will be shipped.

** Please note that it's first come first serve, so I will be going by the date stamp on the email.  If the painting(s) you select aren't available, I will let you know asap so that you can choose a different one if you like.





* I try my best to have the photos match the original artworks as exactly as possible, but colors may vary from monitor to monitor. 

** All images on this website are © by Michelle McSpadden, and may not be copied or used in any way without expressed written permission

Love Notes 3


My latest scripture focus was on Psalm 63:3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.

I have been "chewing" on this scripture for months.  In light of everything going on in the world today, the chaos, sickness, hatefulness, deceit, loss, etc., it has been challenging at times to give God all of the praise He so rightly deserves. 

Because His steadfast love is better than life.....     His love supercedes all of the turmoil around us and is a healing balm for our hearts.  

And so.... even in the midst of chaos, anger, sickness, death, etc., I must remember that His love is always available to me and is truly better than life.  He is worthy of praise no matter what.  






* I try my best to have the photos match the original artworks as exactly as possible, but colors may vary from monitor to monitor. 

** All images on this website are © by Michelle McSpadden, and may not be copied or used in any way without expressed written permission  

Resources and Videos

I recently started to do videos with Facebook Live for Project Love/PROject Love and trying to keep them short and focused as much as possible.  😁

Today I shared some resources that have been such a blessing to me over the years and wanted to list them here on the website along with a link to my Facebook Video Page.

Facebook videos: click here

Resouces:

 
https://my.bible.com/reading-plans  - this website has a lot of reading plans.  You can choose a yearly one, or topical reading plans like marriage, anxiety, etc.,

https://bibleproject.com - this is one of my favs!!  They have short animated commentaries for each book of the bible along.  Great stuff!

https://www.bible-studys.org  - created by a lay person, this website is a verse by verse commentary with tons of history and notes.

https://www.blueletterbible.org/ - verse by verse commentary by multiple authors and study notes.

https://biblehub.com/ - verse by verse commentary by multiple authors and study notes.





* I try my best to have the photos match the original artworks as exactly as possible, but colors may vary from monitor to monitor.
** All images on this website are © by Michelle McSpadden, and may not be copied or used in any way without expressed written permission

Hearts abound

I have been busy working on my current art challenge of 100 heartworks by 7/01/2020.  I have about 34 left to go....you can check out what has been completed so far here:  https://heartart2020.blogspot.com/

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I know that after this challenge is completed another one will be started since they help me to stay focused, increase creativity, and help me to get out of my box a little more.  

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* I try my best to have the photos match the original artworks as exactly as possible, but colors may vary from monitor to monitor. * 

** All images on this website are © by Michelle McSpadden, and may not be copied or used in any way without expressed written permission **

2019 Art Challenge Completed

Completing goals can be so nourishing for the spirit...  After finishing up the 2019 heart art challenge, I took some time to reflect on the journey.  Before getting into the details, I wanted to post a few of my favorites:





Here are a few of the takeaways I have from the art challenge:

1.  Use colors that aren't standard on your preferred palette.  I crossed some big hurdles by using green in this challenge.   Green is the color of growth, safety, spring, new birth, etc., but I tend to lean towards teals and not the vibrant green greens.   I like green grass and plants, but that's where it ends.  I don't use green in my artwork, so I did it on purpose during the challenge and it was a stretching exercise for sure.  I needed it.  Will I use more green greens in the future?  Maybe.      : )

2.  Set a particular size for the artworks.  In this challenge I used three different sizes of paper:  2.5 x 3.5, 4 x 6, and 6 x 8
At first I thought it would be good for me, but keeping up with the little ones was hard.  I think using one or two sizes would be best.

3.  Get messy.  I let my lines get messy.  It was fun to let go and not be such a perfectionist.  There were jagged edges, sloppy lines, colors that bled through each other, and colors that escaped the sloppy lines.  Messy can be fun.


Will there be another heart art challenge?  Absolutely!  (Details coming soon)


The artworks for this challenge will not be for sale, but the next ones will be.


To see ALL of the 2019 art challenge pics, please go here: https://heartart2019.blogspot.com/










* I try my best to have the photos match the original artworks as exactly as possible, but colors may vary from monitor to monitor.

** All images on this website are © by Michelle McSpadden, and may not be copied or used in any way without expressed written permission **

Art Challenges are AWESOME!!

I am enjoying this art challenge so much more than I ever thought I would.

More details below, but here a few of my favorites hearts so far:







The current heart art challenge will be done in a couple of weeks and I'm already planning another one for 2020.

These are the highlights for me so far:

  1. Getting back into watercolor painting.  I haven't used watercolors in a very long time and need to make them a regular part of my creative process.  
  2. Relearning old stuff.... Like how different papers absorb paint.  Some of the paper pads I've been using were bought over the years when they were on sale and put in my art storage boxes, so it's been interesting relearning how to use them and the difference between different poundage of the paper, the different textures of the paper, etc.
  3. Working faster and thinking less.  Sometimes it is very easy to over think during the creative process.... it's like trying for perfection, but losing out on the fun of playing with line and color.  I'm experiencing more joy in my creative process now more than ever before.  Freedom and fun.

To see all of the hearts created so far, please go here: https://heartart2019.blogspot.com/








* I try my best to have the photos match the original artworks as exactly as possible, but colors may vary from monitor to monitor.

** All images on this website are © by Michelle McSpadden, and may not be copied or used in any way without expressed written permission **

Love Notes 2


Love Notes are a part of the Project Love series where I share a little bit of wisdom/revelation that I have learned as I continue to walk with Jesus and meditate on scripture.  

Before I get too far ahead of myself, here are a few mini paintings hanging out together:



The most recent focus scripture for me to reflect on was 1 Cor 16:14  Let all that you do be done in love.  


As I started to contemplate on this new focus scripture, I knew that I needed to be more mindful about my heartfelt intentions before I began any activity or spoke a word. Thinking on how Jesus did things...in love. All that He did was in love and because of love.

Let all that you do be done in love.

It doesn't say in haste, anger, or spite. Love...is caring, kind, truthful, patient, hopeful, and endures as Paul expounds in 1 Corithians 13 verse 4 - 7: Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

I have had the opportunity to actually live out "Let all that you do be done in love" several times over the past few weeks while serving a sister in Christ at her home with household duties. There were times when I was spoken to very rudely and harshly. Times when I was verbally abused and belittled. I had to pray "Jesus, please help me to love right now, becuz I don't feel like it. Help me to serve as if serving you directly. You were mistreated much more than I will ever be and yet you loved. You endured. Help me to endure this and not repay evil with evil, but to continue to show your kind of love." The mistreatment continued to get worse and then I was graciously released from the situation. Looking back on things, I'm so thankful that the Lord was leading me and teaching me how to live out that scripture when things were difficult.


My next scripture focus will be on Psalm 63:3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.







* I try my best to have the photos match the original artworks as exactly as possible, but colors may vary from monitor to monitor.

** All images on this website are © by Michelle McSpadden, and may not be copied or used in any way without expressed written permission **

Loving the art challenge so far....

I am 8 paintings into the 2019 heart art challenge and I'm loving it!!




I have copied a couple of the hearts to this post, but all of them can be viewed together HERE.

As somebody who has been a perfectionist about art things for many years, creating fast has been a lot of fun...and freeing.  The lines aren't perfect, the colors bleed together and sometimes go outside of the lines.  One black marker was running out of ink, but I used it anyway and got some interesting line marks.  I'm hoping that the rest of this journey continues to flow as it is now.   : )







* I try my best to have the photos match the original artworks as exactly as possible, but colors may vary from monitor to monitor.

** All images on this website are © by Michelle McSpadden, and may not be copied or used in any way without expressed written permission **

Art Challenge 2019

I have started my very first art challenge.  61 hearts in 61 days...


I have started a special blog to house these special artworks HERE 

Starting on 11/01/19 with heart #61 and ending on 12/31/19 with heart #1.   I plan to use a variety of media (ink, watercolor, acrylics, pencil, etc.) on paper and/or canvas and will be working on a smaller scale.  My goal is to get looser and more fluid with my imagery by working faster and freer. All artworks will be created within 50 minutes or less.  I may do a few 5 minute paintings to help me get me out of the box even more.


* I try my best to have the photos match the original artworks as exactly as possible, but colors may vary from monitor to monitor.

** All images on this website are © by Michelle McSpadden, and may not be copied or used in any way without expressed written permission **

Project Love...Love Notes

I got a little behind on my podcasts and then discovered that the microphone that I use doesn't work very well, so I will share Project Love/PROject Love info via blogposts for a while.  

The most recent scripture I focused on was John 3:16:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

This scripture is probably the most quoted bible verse of all time. For some people, it is the summation of the gospel in just a sentence. For me, in the last few weeks that I have been contemplating this particular scripture, it has that meaning and more during this season of my life. For me, God didn't just love....He so loved. Loved more than anybody could or would.

I could say that He simply loved me by filling my lungs with air, but even more than just having life, He wanted me to have life beyond this earthly existence. He so loves me. He so loves me that He doesn't want me to perish. He doesn't want me to rot away for eternity, but to have life. Vibrant life that will last forever. And because of that great love, He gives His Son, who is perfect, holy, faithful and true, that if we believe (trust in all that His is and what He has done on the cross) we will have eternal life. When I trust upon Jesus, believe His words, and follow Him, I also find that things in my life stop rotting and dying....they begin to flourish as hope grows and truth shines a light into the darkest parts of my mind. He illuminates me with His great love and I start to change. I get the blessing of change, hope, and eternity because God so loved me that He withheld nothing back for my salvation....He gave it all in and through Jesus.

My next scripture of focus will be 1 Corinthians 16:14 Let all that you do be done in love.

Little mini paintings hanging out together:









* I try my best to have the photos match the original artworks as exactly as possible, but colors may vary from monitor to monitor.

** All images on this website are © by Michelle McSpadden, and may not be copied or used in any way without expressed written permission **

Lil Paintings...

Here are some pics of the smaller paintings....just hanging out together.  : )








* I try my best to have the photos match the original artworks as exactly as possible, but colors may vary from monitor to monitor.

** All images on this website are © by Michelle McSpadden, and may not be copied or used in any way without expressed written permission **

New Paintings

Here are two little new ones:

Mini Heart Burst 5  3x3  $15.00

Heart Burst 2  5x7   $25.00






* I try my best to have the photos match the original artworks as exactly as possible, but colors may vary from monitor to monitor.

 ** All images on this website are © by Michelle McSpadden, and may not be copied or used in any way without expressed written permission

I'm working....slowly

HAPPY Spring to us!! Today is a beautiful windy day in north Texas.  Such a wonderful time of the year when all the plants and trees are bud...